Bromley Bilingual School opens in Sep 2014

[bonjourlondon]

Dear all,

This is to share this that I only discovered last week (apologies if already a well know information):

The Bromley Bilingual Primary School (due to open in september 2014) is taking applications for Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 now, closing date 15th january. It will be a free bilingual school in English and French.

www.bbs-cfbt.org.uk/Home.aspx

A public/parent meeting is planned at 2pm Saturday 19th October,
The Lowell Room, Bromley United Reform Church, 20 Widmore Road, Bromley, BR1 1RY

www.bromleytimes.co.uk/news/applications_open_for_places_at_new_bromley_bilingual_school_1_2366862

I think this is an amazing opportunity for children and families. I'm posting this because I didn't find any information about it on Mumsnet and thought it could interest other parents on the Bromley forum. We've just applied for our son.

Thanks.

Hi

We have just been offered a year 1 place for our son, however it seems the site will not be the DHSS building in Bromley South? Does anyone know anymore about the location of the site and if the plan is still to eventually move to Bromley South.... Prahaps some of you may have attended the recent meeting. Really confused need some help:)

Hi Joneshouse We went to the meeting. The temporary site is where Princes Plain Primary school is. They don't actually have a permanent site at the moment - apparently Westmoreland Road is not big enough now the school will be 3 form entry of 30 children per class. They are looking for a site within central Bromley, so their criteria is a school that is within a 1 mile radius of the Westmoreland Road site. There were parents who were talking about car-pooling to be able to get to Princes Plain. The site at Princes Plain looks lovely, it is just a long way from us. Where abouts are you based?

Hi thank you for your reply we are between Bromley North and shortlands! We looked at the site today which I agree should be fine but as you said too far especially with morning traffic ......big dilemma as we would prefer our 1st and 2nd choices but have been on the waiting list for a year!
La Fontaine sound like it could be great but not having a fixed future site worries me along with potential teething problems

Hi Joneshouse & Hooliesmoolies, we're in a similar situation - we have an offer for year 1 place but the temporary site is so far away from us. It's difficult to know what to do when the permanent site is still unknown. Did they give any indication at the meeting of when they'd decide where the school will be permanently based?

I live in Bromley but DD is already at school so won't be looking for a new school, i do wonder where they will find room for this school, from my understanding they didn't get planning for the DHSS building (probably a good thing as parking and traffic would be horrific). I take it they are looking to use an existing building? the school does sound very interesting

Hi Joneshouse and pipandpop . We also have a yr1 place. They weren't totally exact about when they would know, but they were pretty sure they would know before September. I think we could only manage it if we could car pool with people. We just couldn't do 5 days a week. In case you are interested, there is a (prospective) parents facebook group. I'm hoping I can identify some parents close to us on there.

Thanks Hooliesmoolies - do you have a link to the facebook page? I just did a search but didn't find it.

Does this work...?

la fontaine facebook

Yes! Thank you!

I live a long way from Bromley (though I lived there when I was 6!).

Our dc are in a long-established bilingual school in Scotland.

It's brilliant, but it is a huge amount of work for pupils and parents. Our dc were in P3 (Y2) before English even popped up on the curriculum.

They've done fantastic but it's not the easy option!!

Loving the Bromley/bilingual connection weegiemum

One of the things I'm a little bit worried about is exactly that weegiemum, that it will be very hard work to make it work - particularly initially. Which is one of the reasons the fact that it is so far away is a bit of a concern. It will be hard enough without a big commute.

All I know after speaking to the head teacher is that the temp site is for 1 year and that the new site will be within 1 mile of Bromley south train station! but there seems to already have been a number of changes from the original proposal; name BBS to La Fountaine, location and CFBT to step academy. I have looked more into step academies and they don't seem very good ?

I was actually a little concerned about CfBT. There have been some significant issues at Judith Kerr (including the head teacher leaving and some other members of staff going). I'm actually quite pleased that they have swapped Academy sponsors. I did quite like the name Bromley Bilingual, it had a nice ring to it. I may be totally wrong, but I get the impression that the headteacher may get more autonomy with the Step Academy partnership. But the location is a massive issue for us.

We can't make it to the picnic tomorrow but if anyone else goes and finds out more about possible permanent sites then I'd love to know. Or indeed any other interesting info about the school that's not on the website/parent pack.

I'm really surprised that parents are expected to make a decision about their child's place at the school without knowing the long term location of it, particularly if you need the school to be accessible by public transport. If the school moved a mile north or west of Bromley South then great, we're in BUT if it goes in the other direct then it becomes completely non-viable for us.

Maybe we'll decline the offer and then see if we can get a place via the waiting list once the location is known. So frustrating as I do really like the idea of having my children educated there.

We were at the picnic today, lots of families there, had to leave early so didn't get a chance to chat to many however the issue of location seemed to rear its head again. Apparently we will find out later in July if the council have found a permanent location however the site near princess plain is lovely, very spacious but it's the uncertainty of what will happen from 2015 onwards that concerns me greatly....

Hi

We have recently applied for a place at La Fontaine but didn't get an opportunity to attend any of the meetings/meet ups.

Have any of you accepted a place at the school and if so, do you have any information about after school care being offered by the school?

Responses will be greatly appreciated as we need to make a decision soon but need all the practicalities in place before doing so.

thanks

They will have a breakfast club I think from 7.30am and then each day there will be after school clubs and activity leaders will provide on site, childcare until 6.30 perhaps 7pm to fit around work commitments. All offers are provisional so you get to also keep the school place offered by the council and can make your decision in the coming weeks. Hopefully there will be an update in regards to the permanent site. Feel free to email the head teacher Sebastien, he should be able to email a sample list of before and after school care provided. He is very approachable and in my opinion a great asset to the school.

Hi DaisyLouB. Thanks for your reply. Much appreciated. I will email the headmaster and get some more details.